'Tuning In’ to Harmony

The practice of Nada Yoga is the science of using sound as a means of connecting, organizing, and expressing prana or subtle energy, bringing us into the state of ‘yoga’ or harmony. Based on the premise of Nada Brahma: Sound/Vibration as Divinity itself, we use Nada Yoga (the practice of moving sound within our body) as a means to establish a center point of awareness within our inner world allowing for a more balanced flow as we connect with the external world. We go inward to move outward.

Mantra Yoga is an expansion on Nada Yoga as it takes simple sound and organizes it into more complex patterns. In essence, these patterns vibrate the body and align the mind into single point awareness, which helps keep our ‘thinking’ from overthinking and allows us a greater bandwidth of direct experience. In doing so, freeing up the mental prana to move into higher and finer states of awareness while our bodies literally vibrate with and as the archetypal energy that the mantra holds within. Mantra becomes our bridge between worlds.

Music is the universal intelligence that organizes the infinite vibration into harmony.The ancient mystics realized that the universal vibration/sound organizes into forms of harmony that we call ‘Music of the Spheres’ as we can observe musical expression in the stars, planets, ourselves, and life itself. This realization that music itself is a map of consciousness allows us a pathway to align with the universal harmonic principles that are found in everything through our participation with music. We recognize through the experience of music that we ourselves are music. The beating of our heart, the rhythm of our breath, and the pulse of life animating us into existence all in harmony to create the life that we are.

As we connect Nada Yoga, Mantra, and Music as a yogic practice we deepen our realization that all is vibration and expand our personal experience with the power of sound as a unifying force of higher consciousness.

The word Yoga may bring up a wide variety of images and expectations most likely including the words stretching and pretzel along with images of a room full of people on mats, moving in a trance like state.Yoga is a sanskrit word (ancient indian language) that can best be translated as a state of or act of Harmony, Unity, or Balance.

The aim for any Yoga practice is to practice the tools to enter into a state of being which is balanced, relaxed, and in harmony. The common modern experience of Yoga which we will call asana (the yogic postures) is a means for the yogi (person practicing yoga) to come into a state of inner balance and harmony which is achieved by moving the body with the breath with the ultimate goal of relaxing and slowing down the mind.

While it is a common perception that yoga is about the body, the body is seen here only as an extension of the mind and if we can relax our body we can relax our mind and vice versa. So the term Yoga or harmony is a state of being in which our mind is united with our body which is united with the breath. The ancient Yogi’s prescribed a philosophy and a variety of tools to connect these three parts of the human (mind,body,breath) as they found when these three things were working together, the person felt a greater sense of calm, ease, relaxation, and ultimately love throughout their whole body. They found that the more they practiced this feeling of harmony, the more they felt a part of a greater universal intelligence. In more succinct words, as they found harmony within themselves they felt themselves in harmony with the greater world and by extension universe.

So Yoga is a state of Harmony/Balance/Ease/Grace/Relaxation that is achieved by tools of connection. We use our mind to connect to our breath, and our breath to connect to our body. As our body moves with our breath, our mind begins to slow down and relax its grasp on verbal constructs. As this chatter releases, a deeper, richer experience if found called: Direct Experience also known as Satori, Samadhi, or Peace.

Any means to join with this state of Yoga (noun) is also a Yoga (verb). So we Yoga (connect) to Yoga (practice) to be Yoga (harmony).

I am very honored to be presenting 2 weeks of instruction on Nada Yoga, Sacred Sound, and the Mysticism of Sound and Yoga for the Jivani Yoga level 2 teacher training in Thailand, 2015.Check it out!!!http://jivaniyoga.com/yoga-teacher-training-thailand-2015-level-2/